Florence Eleanor van Reenen (nee Cross), was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1878. She arrived in South Africa as a “Florence Nightingale” nurse during the Anglo-Boer War.

Affectionately named ‘Tottie’ by the Van Reenen family, as she used to call her grandchildren ‘Little Tots’.

In 1922, Tottie started the original general dealer store and butcher shop in Rheenendal which serviced the needs of the staff from her husband’s sawmill and woodcutters from the Millwood district.

It was Tottie’s suggestion to call their farm Rheenendal instead of the suggested Fescue Meadows – so to have some connection with the family name, and also with the place Rheenen in Holland which had family connections with her husband’s forebears.

2012 marked the centenary of the arrival of the Van Reenen family in the Barrington & Rheenendal district.

Tottie’s Farm Kitchen has remained in the family and is now run by her great-grandson Garth and his wife Marian – www.tottiesfarmkitchen.co.za. The photos below show that it remains as beautiful as ever.

View vintage photos of the old sawmill and the Van Reenen family at www.loveknysna.com/history-a-snapshot-old-rheenendal-in-knysna.